WITH the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris just a month away, the official attire of the Malaysian contingent was released in conjunction with this year’s Olympic Day celebration held at The Exchange, TRX in Kuala Lumpur.
According to Olympic Council of Malaysia’s Facebook post, the latest design by Yonex Sunrise Malaysia is a black and gold themed attire, combined with elements of the Tiger stripes to reflect Malaysia’s relentless and ferocious pursuit of the elusive gold medal at the Olympics.
However the attire isn’t getting much love from netizens online who were quick to point out apparent flaws in the design.
The first flaw that was pointed out was the Malaysian flag on the attire was coloured gold, which netizens felt were not respectful to the flag.
“The design is terrible and then the (Jalur Gemilang) is in gold. It’s already ridiculous. You can’t change the colours of the national flag,” said a Facebook user.
The second design flaw which very quickly got netizens attention was the sparse presence of tiger stripes. In fact, on the long-sleeve attire, there seemed to be barely any stripes, based on the picture.
Some joked that the team that designed the official athletic wear was trying to raise awareness about our endangered Malayan tigers and that was translated through the lack of stripes.
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The third was the use of mannequins that looked like they were about to topple to display the attire which many felt was a bad idea.
“The clothing design does not match the prestige of the Olympics itself, the presentation also fails. Why not give it to an athlete/model to showcase. Instead, they just use mannequins as if there are not enough people in Malaysia.”
Many compared the design of the attire to the sports clothes worn during one’s primary school years and that it looked like it was designed “last minute”.
Netizens also pointed out how Thailand prepared a better presentation in announcing their Olympic attire and that their attire was very well-designed.
Thailand had one of its badminton athletes, Sapsiree Taerattanachai, model the new look featuring blue, white, and red colours.
“They even had a photo shoot and used their Olympic athletes as models. We only use a subpar mannequin as a model. And the design too,” lamented a user on X.
Many have since pleaded the Youth and Sports Minister, Hannah Yeoh to review the design, saying that the current version will only “humiliate” our national contingent at the Olympics.
What do you think of Malaysian contingent’s attire?
